Seano76

Hi,

I'm wondering if there is a quick and easy way to find out what the difference in price is between a full economy fare and discount economy fare? I'm living in London and planning a trip back to Oz in January next year, when I check on the Qantas website or expedia it only seems to quote discount economy fares in N, O or Q which apparently don't allow me to upgrade/be upgraded. I'm only QFF Gold but still hopeful that some kindly flight attendant might take pity on me with an upgrade if I am flying full fare economy at least!

Also is there an easy way to determine the likelihood of being upgraded?

Route would be

LHR-BNE via SIN 7th Jan
BNE-MEL 12th Jan
MEL-PER 19th Jan
PER-SIN 25th June
SIN-LHR 25th June

Cheers

Gold_Member

Hi Seano76

Just check the price of Super Saver fares (booking class S) - these are the cheapest fares that can be upgraded with points. They will require more points to upgrade to the next class than fully flex of course.

Unlikely a hostie will take pity on your an op-up unless you do so at the QP prior to boarding.

Some other members with access to various software tools can shed light on award seating availbility in higher classes. Needless to say, SG status will lend you a good chance of securing upgrades with points.

Good luck
GM

og

The easiest way is to get your upgrade request on the wait list the exact second the 90 day window opens. Then it'll only be CL & WPs that trump your status.

You can also improve your chances by flying mid week or in school holidays. Booking class within economy means zero except for making you elligible for the upgrade.

Blackcloud

And note for international flights and flights within NZ, full economy means Y fare class only! All others are considered discount economy with the relevant impact on SC and points required for an upgrade.

Shano

The QF booking engine does not display full Y fares for international flights so you would need to ring QF or talk to a TA.

Alternatively Expert Flyer is a good way of researching fares, but displays base fare only, so need to factor in all the +++.

As already mentioned, even international Flexi fares are still classified as discount Y.

There are some reasonably priced Y fares between Australia and Asia, but I do not know about Australia and the UK.

notzac

Given how rarely op-up's occur - would there be any point to purchasing a full whY fare (for the purposes of upgrading)? Like Gold_Member said, just search for Super Saver fares, as they're upgradeable with points.

Dave Noble

The cheapest Y based ticket from LHR-MEL is GBP2003 plus tax (Fare Basis Y2QF)

A better value ticket would be, I would suggest, is the Premium Economy ticket of GBP1772 plus tax (fare basis TKBBGB1) which would give a comfortable seat on the sectors where Premium Economy exists

Also, the upgrade cost from Premium Economy to Business is the same as from Full Economy to Business

These tickets would seem to have routing rules which permit the itinerary as mentioned

Dave

Kiwi Flyer

No point - not only is there little chance of it happening, but in any case discounted fares for the next higher cabin are normally much cheaper than full fares of the lower cabin.

Kiwi Flyer

I didn't realise/notice this. That is really poor. Charge a small fortune for premium economy and still expect the same cost to upgrade as a much cheaper regular economy fare!

Dave Noble

Not really. If you look at the international fares, Y fares can often be more expensive than premium economy

On the UK-AU run, the discount Y2QF fare sits between T and W.. The Full Y fare is more expensive than these; it doesn't seem unreasonable to treat Full Economy and Premium Economy the same in regards to upgrades

On runs such as SYD-LAX , the Premium economy fares as cheaper than the Y economy fare

Dave

serfty

Internationally, only Y fare bucket bookings are "Full Economy".

http://www.qantas.com.au/fflyer/dyn/...oints/upgrades

e.g. Upgrade to J or F from MEL to LHR:

• BHKMLVS to WHY+: 60K
• Y...... to WHY+: 24K
• BHKMLVS to J...: 96K
• WTY.... to J...: 60K
• JDCI... to F...: 60K

og

T class in WT+/PE is good for the upgrade cost and seat quality, but is still a "discount" ticket and not as flexible as a full Y ticket. If the OP must be on a certain flight on a certain day, Y may be the only option.

Seano76

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. It sounds like I'm much better off going for either a discount premium economy ticket on the flights that this is availaible on, or just buying an upgradeable discount economy fare. Given I am flying into BNE from SIN and out of PER to SIN I would imagine the only legs I can get premium economy on are LHR-SIN and SIN-LHR? There doesn't seem to be an option from the UK Qantas website to look up Premium Economy fares for some reason though? I guess I will just have to call up Qantas over here and ask them.

serfty

Que?

http://www.qantas.com.au/regions/dyn...fier-region-eu

Check the "Travel Class:" options in the Flights booking on the EU home page ...

Seano76

Using that link it still only gives me the options of economy or business/first, might be something to do with my browser settings at work as I do sometimes have problems with other websites as well. I'll give it a shot at home tonight and see how it goes. Cheers